Ernest Cline’s dystopian novel Ready Player One centers around the existence of the OASIS, the virtual world that allows people to escape reality, where climate change and the Global Energy Crisis have lead to horrible living conditions for many. Parzival and other gunters must fight to save the OASIS. Why, then, does the creator of the OASIS give the winner of his famous egg hunt the ability to destroy the OASIS for good?
The OASIS allows people to work, socialize, and shop inside the virtual world. They can go to work as their avatar and earn money that helps them survive in the real world. Wade finds friendship and love inside the game. People like Wade make their living inside the OASIS, all while concealing their identity and therefore remaining anonymous if they choose to. If Wade were to press what James Halliday calls “the Big Red Button”, the OASIS would be destroyed and society would be forced to make massive changes. This would eliminate the virtual world most people use for an escape from real-world troubles such as resource wars, poverty, and starvation.
After Wade wins the hunt for Halliday’s egg, he has second thoughts on what he should do with the prize money. He tells Art3mis he will use it to feed the planet instead of going to space. This change of heart comes after Wade has “met” Halliday, who explains that “as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness” (364). Halliday also reveals the Big Red Button and advises Wade only to press it when his best judgement tells him to. James Halliday, who spent much of his life designing the OASIS, created a worm to shut it down, likely because he knew even the virtual world he created could not remain a utopia forever. Used as a form of escape from the real world, the OASIS could become the next setting of neglect by human beings.
Escapism is a form of distraction from problems. It comes in many shapes and everyone experiences it to some degree. Jennifer Delgado from Psychology Spot discusses the psychology of escapism, and describes it as “an uprooting from reality to find refuge in a fictional and parallel universe”. She suggests that it is an avoidance of real-life problems. In Ready Player One, the OASIS provides the opportunity to do just that by playing through life as an avatar instead of facing the problems threatening the world.
The only place humans can truly find happiness, Halliday says, is reality, because “reality is real” (Cline, 364). If people do not disconnect from the OASIS and focus on the reconstruction of society, the OASIS will fail anyway. Without human beings to play the game, it loses function and meaning. The Big Red Button has more real power than Wade ever could have hoped for in the OASIS. It could help the world become a place where people don't feel the constant need to escape. This is where I think the author let the ball drop on the novel’s ending. The last line of the text hints that Wade has no immediate desire to return to the virtual world, but he never considers the Big Red Button and its implications. Halliday, Wade’s hero, has given the power to change the real world, and Wade dismisses it entirely.
Would you press the Big Red Button?
Click here to read more about Delgado's view on escapism. Thank you for reading!
Works Cited
Burton, Bonnie. “New 'Ready Player One' Trailer, Dissected Shot by Shot.” CNET, 23 July 2017, www.cnet.com/pictures/comic-con-2017-new-ready-player-one-trailer-dissected-shot-by-shot.
Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Broadway Books, 2011.
ComicBook. “Every Easter Egg in Ready Player One.” Movies, ComicBook.com, 9 May 2018, comicbook.com/movies/2018/03/31/every-easter-egg-in-ready-player-one/.
Delgado, Jennifer. “▷ Escapism: The Art of Creating Problems by Running Away from Problems.” Psychology Spot, Jennifer Delgado Suárez, 31 Oct. 2019, psychology-spot.com/escapism-psychology/.
Imt. “VR/AR IMT's Upcoming Events.” Vr/Ar Imt's Upcoming Events - Innovatemedtec Content Library, innovatemedtec.com/content/vrar-imts-upcoming-events.
Kiprop, Victor. “What Is The Importance Of Oasis In A Desert?” WorldAtlas, WorldAtlas, 18 Oct. 2019, www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-importance-of-oasis-in-a-desert.html.
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